Groups urge Berkeley to welcome Gitmo detainees

A coalition of human rights groups is asking Berkeley's city council to adopt a resolution welcoming certain detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison.

The group supports one or two detainees to make their home in Berkeley if they've been cleared by the U.S. government of wrongdoing and have been determined to pose no threat.

Currently, U.S. law bans detainees from settling in this country, but the Obama administration is asking other nations to allow them in. Germany, Ireland, and Denmark are among the countries that have.

"It is past time these men were given their freedom and allowed to rebuild their lives," Code Pink and Women For Peace Cynthia Papermaster said.

She is one of those behind the proposed resolution. There are approximately 174 Gitmo detainees and any cannot return to their homelands because of fear of persecution.

"I think we want to find out who they are, what they've done, whether they're cleared, how many, how they'll be paid for, where they'll be housed, how they'll get their feet on the ground. These are all questions I want answered before I just say bring them on," Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates said.